Episode Details

Listen to them, the new fans of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. What music they make! As we continue exploring the Count’s evil castle in this month’s Lorehaven Guild book quest, we plan to peer deeper into this crypt. This year, over 200,000 readers have been reading Bram Stoker’s original classic novel, cheering its earnestly good heroes who fight this evil vampire’s predations. What have they thought about the story? How have they sought to respect the world they’re entering? And after many decades of showing Dracula as a cartoon or tragic figure, how can we better discern this villain and his horror versus the holiness of Christ’s power?

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Episode sponsors

1. Enclave Publishing: Dream of Kings by Sharon Hinck (Amazon ebook, hardcover, audio CD)
2. Mountain Brook Fire, The Tethered World by Heather L. L. Fitzgerald (audiobook, ebook, paperback)
3. David Umstattd, The Pilgrim’s Progress Reloaded

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Concession stand

• Unlike the Count Dracula, we do sup. To-night we sup on concessions.
• This episode is a spiritual sequel to episode 39, with Geoffrey Reiter.
• There we focused mostly on Stoker; here we focus on new novel readers.
• It also follows from our last episode, Do Christians Really Need Horror?
• We see horror not as means to be “realistic” or edgy or to “get” legalists.
• Instead, we base our discernment of horror in the Bible and the gospel.
• This includes Dracula, a deeply Christian story now over 120 years old.
• The author, Bram Stoker himself, at least understood deep gospel ideas.
• Of course, we’re also exploring Dracula’s castle in our own book quest.

Chapter 1: How did #DraculaDaily boost this book?

• Stephen is indebted to his wife Lacy for tracking this year’s Dracula fandom.
• This began last year. A chap called Matt Kirkland rediscovered the book.
• Slate.com has the whole story. He started with 1,600 readers in 2021.
• The New York Times has a newer story (we found this after we recorded!).
• Now something caught fire, and his newsletter has over 200,000 readers.
• Fans get the novel, unabridged, but rearranged by day of record entry.
• That way old and new fans can read the book in a new way, and slowl